18th September We only had three days in Singapore and although we were determined to make the most of it, sleep was the over whelming driving force since we had no sleep on the flight from Zurich, and the weather was hot and humid (min 25˚, max 32˚, RH 85%) So after a 4 hour nap in the middle of the day we made plans, and those plans consisted of a trip to the famous Night Safari (http://www.nightsafari.com.sg/) to take advantage of the cooler weather at night. We traveled pretty much the entire stretch of Singapore to get there (about 20mins) [View Full Entry]

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Day 56 - Thursday 30th March The Facts: Flight to Bora Bora Shark and ray feeding Grey sharks diving The longer version: An early start took us back to Papeete Airport where we had an Air Tahiti flight to Bora Bora via one of the smaller islands. The views were spectacular with all islands having some beautiful green multi- coloured lagoons around them. Bora Bora itself was just as spectacular as it is in all the brochures, although some cloud covered the highest peak. Straight to the Hotel Maitai Polynesia, where after several reminders, we were picked up for our [View Full Entry]

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Day 52 - Sunday 26th March The facts: Santiago Artensanal at Dominican Fly to Rap Nui / Isla de Pascua/ Easter Island The longer version: A very slow and steady start to the day. After checkout we headed to the Dominican, wherein one section there is a major artist market. We were able to wander around and looked at many types of Chilean craft, selecting some easy to carry ones to come back with us. We returned to Santiago airport in an Astra and one of the safest Taxi rides we would have to say we had. So we left [View Full Entry]

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Day 48 - Wednesday 22nd March The Facts: San Pedro de Atacama Ecological tour Moon Valley Astronomical tour The longer version: An easy start to the morning, with a tour or the Ecological sites around San Pedro de Atacama, including a visit to the museum full of mummies. The dry climate ensures that objects are very well preserved, so there are many artefacts and mummies from earlier times in this region. We also went to an old village (Tulor), of which 7% has been excavated, and we can see how they lived in round buildings. The other stop on the [View Full Entry]

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Day 44 - Saturday 18th March The Facts: Salta -La Quaica The longer version We were met early by our guide, for the trip north to the Bolivian border. The choice of transport was a new model Hilux so Roger felt right at home. This one had a few more spotlights on though. We headed north through the denser forest areas, passing through many towns, whose names we still cannot pronounce. At the service station we were amazed by the wine list and alcohol available for purchase. Somebody had described South Americans as always driving like they were drunk and [View Full Entry]

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Day 41 - Wednesday 15th March The Facts: Buenos Aires Bike tour Evitas grave Flight to Tucuman The Longer Version: As we left the lush surrounds of our hotel, Ayres de Recoletta, we made our way through the streets of Buenos Aires (BA) to our meeting place at the Plaza. Here we collected our steel steeds and guides and departed on a death defying cycle tour of BA. Starting with a tour of the Falklands war memorial, we headed passed most of the famous landmarks in BA, in just a few short hours. We dodged traffic, dog poo and tango [View Full Entry]

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Day 37 - Saturday 11th March The Facts: To Puerto Montt, Puerto Varas, Cochamo Valley and Campo Aventura Jo Service station bowser The Longer Version: A Taxi took us in darkness back to Punta Arenas airport for our flight north. At Puerto Montt we decided that as we were in no hurry, we would try to catch the public buses to Puerto Varas where we planned to spend the next day. This proved to be no drama, just a bit of chaos at the Puerto Montt Bus Station which had a million buses going a million different directions. We got [View Full Entry]

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Day 29 - Friday 3rd March The Facts: Travel from El Calafate to Puerto Natales The longer version: Early start and we were on the bus to Chile. A great ride across the grassy slopes of the Patagonian Steppe. We encountered many Nandu (Andean Ostriches) though we aren’t sure whey the bus driver stopped from time to time, no announcements were made. We survived some more border crossings with Roger getting smiles from the guards. Not sure if it was the beard that wasn’t on the passport photo, or the special Antarctica stamps in his passport. Puerto Natales ha [View Full Entry]

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Day 23- Saturday 25th February The Facts: Disemabarking at 7am Ushuaia Flight to El Calafate The longer version After disembarking the rush was on to find someone to post all our new jackets and fleeces (supplied as part of the trip) back to Australia. The Correo (Post) was open on, but they only do International Parcels Mon-Fri during selected hours, even though the customs sectio which is needed for this was open! We could only locate a DHL Office (not outlet for postage), and OCA who delivered freight only within Argentina! So we managed to stuff all the goodies in our [View Full Entry]

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Day 15 - Friday 17th Feb The Facts: At sea Activities: Living with Albatross Albatross and the long-line fisheries Wildlife Watch 5 Course Russian dinner The longer version Heading towards the South Orkney islands and Antarctica we continued to encounter high seas which Roger photographed from the bridge of the boat whilst also discussing the finer points of bird watching with the bird watchers. Karen ate cheese, crackers and some mashed potato for each meal. Rest assured that a comeback was made in time for the Russian feast. Day 16- Saturday 18th February [View Full Entry]

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